Machine for napping and brushing knitted goods



(No Model.)

G. JACKSON.

MACHINE FOR NAPPING AND BRUSHING KNITTED GOUDS.

No. 277,489. Patented May 15; 1883.

I INVENTOR ATTORNEY WITNESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE JACKSON, OF GOHOES, NEW YORK.

MACHINE'FOR NAPPING AND BRUSHING KNlTTED GOODS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 277,489, dated May 15, 1883.

Application filed September 2, 1882.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE JACKSON, of Gohoes, county of Albany, State of New York,

have invented new and useful Improvements' in Machines for Napping and BrushingKnitted Goods, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being 7 had to the accompanying drawings, making brushes.

My invention consists of certain details of construction and arrangement hereinafter described, and specifically pointed out in the subjoined claims.

The object of myinvention is to produce a napping and brushing machine suitable for softening the surface or producing a nap on the knitted cloth from which knitted undershirts are made.

In certain napping and brushing machines heretofore used the requisite tension is ob tained by the application of a brake to the delit ering-reel, and the cloth is fed along and held against the face of the brushes by large feed-rollers, three or more inches in diameter, acting singly, one feed-roller for each brush. In certain other lnushing-machines other rollers than the feed-rollers are employed to keep the surface of the moving cloth against the face of the brushes. In brushing and napping machines heretofore used therevolving brushes where in contact with the cloth move in a direotion-opposite to that of the moving cloth,

"and therefore to produce a uniform nap must necessarily brush upon the cloth only where the opposite face of the cloth is in actual contact with the face of a supporting-roller, otherwise the slack of the cloth either before or behind the brush will cause irregular work and endanger the teeth or wires of the brush. Machines heretofore used which are perfectly efficient and satisfactory for producing a nap on woven fabrics are unserviceable for knitted goods, particularly for cloth which is knitted double or in the form of a tube used in the manufacture of undershirts. Such cloth, being very elastic, is in the machines heretofore used stretched or drawn out of shape in equal perfection.

(No model.)

such manner that suflicient nap, if produced, is produced with great difficulty and is of un- It is also found that the cloth so unequally stretched in napping will cut up badly, and cannot be made up into well-shaped garments without serious waste in cutting. It is also found in practice that with the machines heretofore used the irregular or uncertain feeding of the knitted goods and the unequal tension resulting therefrom cause the said goods to catchand tear out or break off the teeth or wires of the brushes to the extent that in such machines the clothing of the cylindrical brushes seldom lasts more than one month, and in some cases must be renewed as often as every eight or ten days.

In the machine having my improvements I produce a regular and positive feed by the use of feed and receiving rollers in pairs of corn paratively small diameter-say one and one quarter inch--whereby the cloth is fed uniformly and steadily without the possibility of slip, and by placing the revolving cylindrical brushes as close as possible to the said feedrollers and maintaining asuitable tension on the-cloth, all as hereinafter set forth, a uniform and abundant nap is successfully produced, and the cloth is not liable to catch and tear out the teeth of the brushes, and the brushes will last in constant use from one to two years. 7

In the drawings, Figure l is a central longitudinal vertical section of a napping and brushing machine for knitted goods having my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation,

and Fig. 3 is a rear elevation, of the same machine with certain parts removed. Fig. etis anend view of a fluted feed'roller. Fig. 5 is a transverse section of clothing-strip consisting of a leather or rubber band of about the width shown in the drawings, through which \vires pass, fbrming a brush. Fig. 6' represents one of the brush-wires bent in the form of a staple, which wires so bent, with the hand through which they pass, constitute the clothing of the cylindrical brush. Fig. 7 represents the feed-roller bearings and weighted levers; Fig. 8, the delivering-reel, spindle, and

cones.

Like letters in the several drawings refer to like parts of the machine.

A is the frame, consisting of sides a, and

cross or transverse bars b, and suitable fastenings. Each side 00 consists of a single iron casting, flat on the inner and suitably ribbed on the outerface, having a thin sheet-iron lining, a riveted to and completely covering the said inner face. The cross-bars b are of wood. Screw-bolts b, passing. through sides a and into concealed nuts in the cross-bars b, secure the sides and cross-bars together, completing the frame A. Y

B are the cylindrical tbrushes, consisting of Wooden cylinders 0, having iron axles d, and covered with clothing 0. The clothing in bands is wound spirally and tightly upon the face of the wooden cylinders 0, covering the entire face, and is secured by small nails or tacks in such manner that a cylindrical wire brush is formed. The space shown between the wooden cylinder 0 and the dotted circle surrounding it, Fig. 1, represents that occupied by the clothing. The brushes B are arranged, one of each pair, slightly in advance of the other, as shown in Fig. 1, and are mounted transversely to the frame in suitable bearings (not shown in the drawings) secured to the sides of the frame in such manner that the height of the rollers maybe nicely adjusted to the force with which-the brush should bear on the moving cloth.

O are fluted rollers of solid iron or steel, with longitudinal grooves or fluting extending completely over the whole length of their workingfaces. The fluting causes the rollers to bite the moving cloth, preventing slip, and securing a positive feed. Two pairs of these fluted rollers G are employed, arranged, one-pair im- I mediately in advance of each pair of brush- .suitable holes drilled in the roller.

cylinders, relatively to the path of the material operated upon, and in as close proximity as possible to the operative sides of said brushcylinders, for sustaining said material against the action of the brushes.

D are the leather-faced receiving-rollers, also made of iron or steel, not fluted, but roughly turned in a lathe, and covered with leather. The leather, in strips of about one and one-half inch in width, is wound spirally and tightly about the receiving-rollers, and is secured at the ends by wooden pegs, like shoe-pegs,driven through the leatherand into Theleather covers the entire working-faces of the rollers, presenting a smooth even surface.

E is the cloth-delivering axle, provided with sliding conesf. The axle E, with one of the cones f removed, being passed through the center of a roll of cloth, F, the cone is replaced, and the two cones fare then slid into the endsof the central opening of the roll, and,

with the roll in the middle of the axle, are secured in place by the set-serewsf, which setscrewsmust, when screwed down, be flush with or below the face of the cylindrical part of the cones. The axle E, carrying the cloth-roll F,is then put in position on the machine,with the ends or journals of axle E working in the slot 9 of standards G. Standards G are rigat theline of contact, which line is in the same v horizontal plane with the lines of contact with the feed-rollers G and receiving-rollers D. The

cloth is passed ina straight line from the roll F, through between the said feed and receiving rollers, and the end passed up over. and around a wooden receiving-roller J, (shown in dotted lines in the center of receiving-roll K,) and the end is pushed in under and is held by the unrolling cloth. The receiving-roll K, resting on the face of the intermediate roller, 1, is turned by the latter, which latter, resting on the upper receiving-roller D, is turned by it; or the intermediate roller, I, may be dispensed with, and the cloth may be in that case passed half around the upper roller 1), and thence around the roller J, in which case the roll K would rest immediately upon and be turned by the upper roller 1).

Q are standards, similar to standards G, carrying the journals of rollers I and J.

L aredriving-pulleys on driving-shaft W, revolving always in the direction indicated in the drawings, Fig. 1, by the arrow. Endless driving-belts M, one on each side of the machine, pass from the upper side of pulleys L, under and over thebrush-pulleys N, around the tightening-pulleys O, and back around the U in pairs of equal diameter fixed on the several pairs of roller-axles. The shaftT is driven by -a belt, 2', from a cone-pulley, V, on the driving-shaft W. By moving the cone-pulley on the shaft, bringing one or other of the grooves in line with the driven pulley X on shaft T, the relative speed of the feed-rollers and brushes can be varied as required. The two idlers or guide-pulleys Y serve to guide the belt i to and from cone V anddriven pulley X.

The tightening-pulley 0 is carried by a swinging hanger, j, which may be turned so as to loosen or tighten belt M, with or about the bolt it, when the nut lisloosened, and may be fastened in the desired position by tightening that nut. V

The idlers Y are carried by a stud, m, projecting from frame A.

To'eause the rollers G and D to bite the cloth, the weight of the upper, rollers is insufficient, and weighted levers Z are therefore borne by bearing-blocks a, vertical faces of which retain between them the journal of the the other end in the hook of rod g, which rods.

q pass through the upper flange or rib of frame A, and are secured by a nut or head on the under side of that flange. Removable covers r, with casing-boards s and t, and doors a and o, and the frame A, complete the inclosure of the brushes and provide a large inclosed space, in which the dust produced in brushing will be thrown down to the floor and prevented from flying about the room in which the machine may be at work.

to are hangers or boxes secured to frame A and carrying the shaft T.

The driving-shaft W revolves in bearin gs ac, also secured to a horizontal projecting part a of frame A.

y and z are fast and loose pulleys receiving the belt by which the machine is driven.

d is a guard consisting of two transverse bars of wood or other material, with a space between them for the passage of the cloth. It has been found in practice that without the guard d the final end of the cloth, havinglel't the axleE and being drawn rapidly through the machine, is liable to fly out of its direct course and catch and tear out or break off the wires or teeth of that brush. (Seen as the npperright hand one in Fig.1.) As the same thing has not occurred with the other brushes, only...

this one guard cl has been required in this machine as constructed. When required a similar guard d may be provided for the other brushes, consisting essentially of any suitable transverse edge or protecting piece placed at a suitable distance in advance of the brush to which it is applied.

Before using the cylindrical brushes they, while rapidly revolving, may have any projectin g ends or points or irregularities removed by contact with a stationary plane surface covered with emery powder. The axle E, hearing a roll of cloth, having been placed in position resting upon roller H, and the end of the cloth having been passed through between the feed and receiving rollers, and thence around the wooden receiving-roller J, as hereinbefore specified, and the four cylindrical brushes having been adjusted to bear lightly on the cloth, and the machine set in motion, the sev eral feed and receiving rollers will cause the cloth to unwind from roll F, feed along steadily and smoothly in a horizontal plane, and wind upon the roller J, forming a new roll, K,

' and the cylindrical brushes revolving rapidly and bearing with just sufficient pressure on the upper and lower faces of the cloth, that part of the faces of the brushes in contact with the cloth moving in the same direction as the cloth, but at a much greater velocity, a

nap will be formed on the cloth by the action of the brushes.

In practice the feed-rollers C may all be of the same diameter. If it is found that two much slack is produced by stretching between the first and second pair of feed-rollers, slight friction so applied to roller H as to retard the cloth will neutralize that stretching; or, if preferred, the second pair of feedrollers 0 may be a very little-say one thirty-second part of oneinchlargerin diameter than the first pair; but the difference in diameter must not be more than the stretching demands.

The rollers D are, before covering with leather, slightly less in diameter than rollers (J; but when covered are about one-sixteenth of one inch larger in diameter than rollers C. This difference in diameter of the several feed and receiving rollers should vary according to the goods operated on or to the stretching of the same. If the rollers D are too small, the diameter may be increased by putting paper under the leather.

The several feed-rollers O and the receivingrollers D all revolve with the same angular velocity; but if it is preferred to use rollers all of the same size, the difference in the surface velocity of the several pairs of rollers may be obtained by varying the angular velocity.

Of each pair of cylindrical brushes employed in the machine the lower brush should be placed as near as practicable to the upper one.

For a light nap, or for merely softening the surface ofthe cloth, I construct machines with only one pair of cylindrical brushes.

The feed-rollers 0 may be used without fluting, or may be roughened in any suitable manner; butl prefer to have them fluted.

The yielding pressure on the upper roller may be obtained from springs instead of from weighted levers Z, orin any other equivalent manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a napping and brushing machine, of cylindrical brushes in pairs, arranged, one of each pair in advance of the other, relatively to the path of the material operated upon, small feed-rollers C, also arranged in pairs and in close proximity with the operative faces of the brushes, forsustaining the material against the pressure of the brushes, the pairof receiving-rollersD,- weighted levers for giving the required grasp to the several pairs of feeding and receiving rollers, the delivering and receiving rollers, and mechanism for actuating said brushes and rollers, arranged and operating substantially as described.

2. The combination, with the cylindrical brushes arranged in pairs, of the fluted feedrollers G in pairs, the pair of receiving or drawing rollers D, bearings for said rollers, the weighted levers Z, and pressure-blocks 0 for giving the required grasp to said rollers, spur-wheels for driving the upper roller of each pair from the lower roller of the same pair, toothed wheels R on the shafts of said lower .rollers, and the screws S on the shaft T for actuating said lower rollers, and mechanism for rotating said shaft, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the friction-roller H and the cloth-delivering axle E, of the cylindrical brushes B B in pairs, the feed-rolls C 0, also .in pairs, the pair of receiving or drawingrrollers D, and mechanism for actuating said brushes and rollers, substantially as shown and described, whereby the adjacent operative sides or faces of the several pairs of brushes and feeding-rollers are brought into the same, horizontal plane-with the line of contact betweenthe delivering-roll and the friction-roller H.

' 4E. The combination, with the cylindrical brushes and the feeding and receiving rollers, 20

arranged in pairs, of the guard d, arranged in advance of the second pair of feeding-rollers and cylindrical brushes, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 25 my hand this 30th day of August, A. D. 1882.

' GEORGE JACKSON.

Witnesses DAVID R. SM1TH, JOHN MCGREARY. 

